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Show CENSUS OF 8TANDING TIMBERS Great Work Taken up by the Na-tlonal Na-tlonal Conservation Commission. H Washington. Tho National conser- J ration roininlsslon has caused tho H l.ist compreheiinivo attempt at a con- B his of tho Htnndlng timber In tho I nlted States ovor undertaken. Tho torest Bcrvlce has for several years boon eager to tako Hitch n census, and J tho bureau of tiro census hat, oxprcs- J tod Kb willingness to co-operate, but lands havo never been available. Tho conservation commission, however, needs the Information to help com- plcto Its Inventory or tho country's natural resources which It will In- elude in Its report to tho president, nnd since thnt report Is to bo submit- ted on tho first of next year, It needs tho Information at onco. In conse- quence tho work on tho census has boon started wltlt n rush nnd Is now under full headway. It may be a slight exaggeration to ppcnk of a census of timber, for of course It Ib Impossible to count the) individual trees In tho fortcsta; oven tho most nmbltlou& plans or tho for-est for-est servlco and tho bureau of tiro con-dub con-dub did not contcmplnto that. Ilut a trained man can with great accuracy "crttlso" a tract of forest and cstl-mato cstl-mato tho number of board feet It con-tains con-tains Lnrgo portions of tho forests of tho country, Including prntclcnlty nil the national forests, havo been cttlmatcd at various times, but theso figures have never been brought to-gether to-gether nnd no organized effort Iras ever been made to gather thorn -Into cuo total, nor to supply tho doflclen-rlcs doflclen-rlcs whoro hitherto nocstlmato havo I been made. As n result, tho guesses as to tho .H nmount of htnndlng timber In tho ,H I United Slntcs, range nil tho way from iH S22.0S2 million to 2,000 billion board feet, a dlffercnco of moro tlran a trll-lion trll-lion fcot lu tho estimator, of tho best qualified authorities In tho country. HBl In the opinion of tho forest servlco, the most carefully prepared estimates yet mado nro those by. Henry (Ian-nctt, (Ian-nctt, published by tho twelfth census In 1900. Theso placed tiro total Htumpngo nt 1,390 billion board feet. Mr. flannctt, It so happens, has been fl chosen by tho president to compllo fill tho information gathered for tho commission, nnd with his provlous ac- qunlntnnco with tho subject of for- catry, lro Is nt work now enlarging tho knowlcdgo of forest nrcas at pro- tent available. Tho Importnnco of this cetiMts lies largely In tho fact that It will glvo nn accurate, basis for computing how lnng our timber supplies will Inst. Through tho co-opcrntlon or tho for-oat for-oat snrvlrn nnd tho census bureau tho country's annual consumption of vood If, known with tolorahlo nccur-ncy, nccur-ncy, although oven horo thoro aro Romo discrepancies, hecnuso a largo amount ot wood Is used for posts, fuel, and domestic purposes, for which no satisfactory data havo yet boon collected. Ilut tho consensus of opln-Ian opln-Ian among thoso equipped to Judgo Is thnt the present annual consttmp-tlon consttmp-tlon Is about 100 billion board foot, or something moro than thnt. Ono lending nuthnrlty has plnccd It ns high as 1C0 billion hoard fcot. Assuming n stumpngo of 1,400 hll-lion hll-lion fcot, nn nnnttnl ttso or 100 billion feet, nnd neglecting growth In tho calculation, tho exhausting of our timber supply Is Indicated In 11 years. Acsumlng tho snmo ttso and stand, with nn nnnunl growth or 40 billion feet, wo havo a supply for 23 years. iH Assuming an nnnunl uso of ICO billion loot, tho first supposition becomes 9 years, and tho second 13 years, As- (tuning n stnnd of 2,000 billion feet, n ubo of 100 billion fcot, nnd neglect- ing. growth, wo havo 20 years' Mip- ply. Assuming tho samo conditions, with nn nnnunl growth of 40 billion feet, wo have 33 yean,' supply. With an annual uso ot 1C0 billion foot, theso estimates become, respectively, 13 nnd 18 years. It Is apparent from theso computn-tlons computn-tlons why tho national conservation commission considers tho census of timber so essential to tho propara-Hon propara-Hon of Its Inventory. |